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Their operations are not new in Nigerian society; what is not known is when this dastardly act would be eradicated from the country. Unfortunately, as usual with the country, there are no readily available statistics on the number of persons kidnapped or released victims, not to venture requesting for the statistics of those killed in the process.
We have two Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna, children; Leah Sharibu from Dapchi, 98 Chibok girls, 29 Birnin Yauri schoolchildren, 85 boys in Zamfara; and many more still in captivity.
Before the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari eight year ago, he had promised to reunite these victims of kidnappers with their families. But, till date, the story has not changed and many more people are being kidnapped, giving the impression that our security agencies are either overwhelmed or lack the capabilities to tackle the menace of kidnapping, which is on the increase.
A few weeks before the February 25, 2023, presidential election, the Central Bank of Nigeria came up with the idea of a cashless programme. Notably, the policy curtailed the excesses of kidnappers in demanding huge ransom from their victims. Like a dark cloud the faded away from the sky, there was no kidnap incident recorded throughout the election period. However, a few days after the governorship election, the kidnappers resurfaced, creating fear and pandemonium among citizens. The question on the lips of many security observers is: what security measures should be put in place to stem and completely eradicate kidnapping in the country? How come the police force cannot leverage on past achievements when, in 2009, it was able too reduce the rate of kidnapping in the South-South from 58 to 18 incidents? That feat was applauded by the Korean ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Han Wan Hyok, while commending the Nigerian Police and the government of President Musa Yar’Adua. Among the strategies used by the police were increase in road checks and intelligence gathering.
Today, the topography has changed from the South-South to the North-East and North-West. It is, therefore, necessary that better security strategies should be developed to stem this tide of insecurity. The time has come when security heads like divisional police officers, area commanders and state police commissioner should be deprived of their promotion if there is any case of kidnapping in their jurisdictions. These are the sacrifices that go with leadership. This is not the time when security leaders would abdicate their responsibility, knowing full well that their major responsibility is to protect lives, properties and fight criminals.
The internal security of the country, which is supposed to be the prime responsibility of the police, has been abdicated to the army, which is not in the overall interests of Nigeria’s internal security.
With the harsh economic realities in the country and around the world, many criminals have resorted to the crime of kidnapping, considering the high financial turnover.
For instance, while Turkey is rated as having the world’s highest kidnapping rate of 42.669 kidnapping cases, our neighbouring country Benin Republic recorded 4,700 cases in 10 years. We should know that kidnappers have different motives for embarking on this dangerous act. When it first surfaced in the Niger Delta zone, the kidnappers used their victims to make a statement concerning the deprivation of their people despite oil exploration, which was not making any impact on the common people and the communities economically. Then armed robbers upgraded and started kidnapping for ransom and this style spread like wildfire and, when, in 2008, the Boko Haram terrorist group emerged, they embarked on kidnapping to further spread their religious dogma by force. Later, many of the armed terrorists whom the Nigerian government preferred to describe as “bandits” realized the ignored fortune in kidnapping, they added ransom money to their activities. So, each terrorist splinter group that emerged from Boko Haram depended on kidnapping for ransom for their existence. The amount and nature of ransom depends on their internal needs, like purchase of firearms and ammunition, repatriation of the money for investment in their localities, motorcycles and foodstuff.
Experts still believe that the only way to stop the crime of kidnapping for ransom, is for the government to revisit the implimentation of the cashless policy with a more refined approach, with better mass enlightenment. While other countries of the world have statistics of kidnapping, Nigeria has nothing to show, except reported cases by the media. This does not present the country as one that takes stock of its past with a view to restrategize.
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Unfolding police politics in South-East ( 2)
Politics, like smoke, has entered virtually every fabric of administrative and operational systems of the Nigeria Police, thereby eroding the root of existence of the Nigeria Police to the extent that recruitment exercises are often enveloped in political manipulation tilted towards ethnicity and religious interests.
These factors are responsible for the lopsidedness usually noticeable after every recruitment exercise in this security institution. Such uneven recruitments have greatly affected the growth of the police, resulting in the forced promotion of policemen without character and better qualification toward the end of their career. Psychologists would tell you that someone without basic develop or metal education cannot progress intellectually with only rudimentary training. Such policemen usually struggle in absorbing necessary information, which makes them to resort to physical brute force, instead of simple intelligence, coupled with education. A time was when higher educational qualification was like an anathema in the police, as promotions were based on ethnic and religious considerations. Thank goodness that era has passed, as this generation of police officers are educated, professionally capable and erudite enough to compete against any of their security mates without exhibiting any inferiority complex. Today, you find lawyers and master’s degree holders in the police adding to other relevant professional certificates in their kitty.
In other words, today’s police officers are far more qualified than their predecessors because present-day security matters revolve around good education, better training and exposure.
Any security institution whose operatives are no longer embracing new technology, upgrading their educational qualifications nor are they retrained for better professionalism soon becomes redundant. Many security analysts believe that the professional standard being displayed today by the police is evidence of the quality of education, training and exposure made available to the officers.
Meanwhile, criminals have also upgraded intellectually, while policemen find it difficult to fight insecurity. A visit to many police stations speaks volumes of corrupt practices among policemen. It has become a situation where money has become the determining factor to obtain justice in some police stations.
Where transfer for ‘juicy’ positions is based on connection, instead of qualification, we come to the conclusion that there is much merit in the call for the establishment of state police. State police would upgrade the standard of policing in Nigeria to be at par with other institutions across the world. The time has come for state police to be established, if we want the police to meet their constitutional responsibilities. Every state government would ensure that the police under it is not only well-catered for but also equipped to handle any emerging security difficulties. Also, state police would help to eradicate the ethnic lopsidedness of personnel presently being experienced in the Nigeria Police.
(Concluded)
